Orlando Cruz Becomes First Openly Gay Professional Boxer

According to ESPN, professional boxer Orlando Cruz has outed himself as the first openly gay boxer in the history of the sport.

Cruz has been boxing professionally since 2000. Since then he has amassed an 18-2-1 record with 9 KOs.

Cruz released a statement announcing he was a “proud gay man” but went on to say he didn’t want to be looked on as just a gay boxer.

“I want people to look at me for the human being that I am. I am a professional sportsman that always brings his best to the ring. I want for people to continue to see me for my boxing skills, my character, my sportsmanship.”

Here is a video of him KOing Leonilo Miranda back in 2009:

Cruz joins an incredibly small list of openly gay athletes. Of the 12,000 athletes at the London Olympics only 23 were openly gay.